That each person's work will be revealed and tested by fire on the day of judgment, as described in 1 Corinthians 3. Using the analogy of building a house and the testing of materials like gold, silver, wood, hay, and stubble, the message illustrates that while some work will endure and result in reward, other work will be burned up, leading to loss for the individual, though they will still be saved. The core lesson is that our service for God should be motivated by His love, not by the prospect of reward, and that our lives and actions are a reflection of God's presence, as believers collectively form the temple of God, which must be treated with reverence and holiness.
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We are going to go back this evening one more time to First Corinthians chapter three. And as you look for the portion, I would like to correspond to the chairman's remarks that Grace and I have thoroughly enjoyed our week with you. We have been encouraged in the Lord. Your fellowship has been warm and we leave you tomorrow with very happy memories of this week. we're going to read tonight in first Corinthians chapter three and we'll read verse thirteen now as we read verse thirteen we're breaking into the portion and we read each one's work will become manifest now that's a very solemn font because I've come to be with you for a week and I know some of you Some of you I've met for the first time and in a sense we don't really know each other.
Sometimes we project images and these images do not correspond to the reality. We might look like we do certain things but perhaps we do not really do them in our minds and in our hearts. But this portion tells me that there is a moment when the work of each one will be manifest. That's sobering. Let me take you to the Dominican Republic. We live in a little place called Cabarete on a second-story apartment, and not far from where we live, about a half-hour's drive, there's a little town called Hamal Norte.
So I'm going to imagine tonight I have a friend who lives in Hamal Norte. We've known each other for a long time. he's rather a poor man but one day he sends me a letter and he says in the letter at last I'm going to build my own home now that's everybody's dream to have their own home and I'm so happy for my friend that now at last he's going to build his own home but that's all he told me he's going to start and build his own home so as he didn't share any more information with me my mind begins to go and knowing what the Dominican Republic is today, I'm sure it will be a home made of concrete blocks.
And it will probably have two bedrooms and the kitchen will be in the house, not out in the backyard on a table under a thatched roof with some little charcoal burners. Now it'll be in the house. And I even hope that the washroom will also be inside. and not outside, as is so common in some of the rural homes. So I have formed in my mind the idea. And then about three months later he sends me a letter and he says, I'm finishing, and on next Saturday we're going to get together and have a hearty meal and a short service of thanksgiving to God.
So I'm going for the hearty meal and also to thank God that my friend has a house. And when I arrived there, I stopped at the police station and I asked, where is Mr. Sohn's new house? And they look at me, well, they said there's a man down the street there, down that side street, and he's building down there. And so I moved the car and go down this very poor street, and I find my friend. And he's standing right in front of a brand new house. made of that bark that comes off of the upper part of the royal palm trees it peels off their sheets about four feet high and about two or three feet wide and you straighten them out and you put them together with vines and you make a house I can't believe it never thought that was the type of house he was thinking about I had my own ideas but the work of each one will be manifest.
There's a day coming when we will stand before God and what we have done will be revealed in its true character. Not the way we want it to be, not even the way others think it is, but the way it really is. You may wonder, well, when will that happen? Well, Paul tells us in this verse verse thirteen for the day will declare it that's all paul says the day will declare it in this apartment where grace and i live we have our own bedroom a rather large bedroom that has windows on three sides and sometimes i wake up early in the morning three four o'clock and of course if it's a night without moon And if it happens to coincide with an electrical blackout, we have many of them, then there's absolutely no light.
I can look where I know the windows are, but you can't see a thing, just total blackness. And sometimes I'm not able to go back to sleep. I lie there, I begin to plan and pray and work and think. And then around six o'clock, the first light of a new day comes up and I can see the outline just barely of the windows and outside the window by the bed I can see the branches of the coconut plum waving back and forth and I remember there's a beautiful tree out there with a little more light I can see out the other window and there I can see a whole coconut tree you can actually see the coconuts hanging on the tree a beautiful tree and with a little more light I can look up and see the sky and I know whether it's going to rain or whether it's going to be a beautiful, bright, sunny day.
The day declares it. There's light. Now there's a moment coming when not with the mistiness of this life or even with the darkness of the sinful world that surrounds us, but in a beautifully clear day, in the presence of God, our lives are going to be revealed what they really are. If you wonder about that day, well, in the Old Testament, and after all, Paul was a Jew, brought up in the Old Testament, you have the thought that the wicked men, they seem to prosper, and the godly men, they suffer and have tribulations.
But there's the promise, the day of the Lord. In that day, God will set things right. and the evil will be condemned, and the righteous will be vindicated and blessed and glorified in the day of the Lord." Now that thought comes over into the New Testament. In the New Testament many other details are added into this great concept of the day of the Lord, when at the end of history God intervenes in the affairs of men. you will hear about the rapture and the tribulation and the millennium and the great white throne and many things they all fall within the scope of that great day of the Lord now on that day there is a moment in the presence of God when our lives will be declared they will be made manifest then you might ask me the question how will it happen now don't be nervous Paul tells us in the next phrase just exactly how it will happen, for he says, Because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of
what sort it is. Now fire can be a sobering, horrifying thought. The Bible ends with a concept of the lake of fire. and that in turn is identified with everlasting punishment. Terrible, solemn thought. But on the other hand, fire is often used in the Bible in the very comforting sense. Moses brought the people up out of Egypt, brought them into the desert on this journey which was going to take a long time because of their disobedience to a new and promised land. But God did not abandon the disobedient people.
He was there. And in the daytime, you could see over the camp this column of cloud, the signal, God is present. And at night, probably the last thing you would do before you went into your tent was to look up, and there was the pillar of fire. God was present. In a sense, his arms were over the camp. He was protecting and caring for his people. So in that sense, fire is a very comforting thought. God is with us. He loves us. He is near. In this case, it is linked to testing. Fire will test the character of our work.
Now, if we go back to verse eleven, you'll find there are six different categories, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, or straw. And sometimes we come to that portion and it's so easy to decide, well, there must be six different levels of service. Superior service for God, that's the category of gold. But then there's also a very high level of service, that's silver. Then there's very good service, that's precious stones. Then there is service of a regular nature, not outstanding, not bad, wood.
And then there's hay, rather inferior, and stubble or straw, well you hardly talk about that, and some preachers have made their categories of different levels of service. Now, if you come to the Scriptures as a good Bible student, before you do that, you will look in the portion to find out if there's something that supports that song, and you'll look in vain here. There's only one thing that Paul says about our service for God. There is service that will go through the fire. and there is service that will be burned up in the fire.
It's a comforting thought to remember that the service that we do for the Lord, some of it will endure. It will last. It will pass through that fire and we will go with us into the presence of God. There are other things we've done in the service of God and they will disappear in a puff of smoke. The fire must refer to the Lord Himself. He is the one who will make the evaluation. He will look at our work, and He will tell us what was good and what was bad. And I find that a most comforting thought.
I don't want to fall into the hands of an archangel or an angel or a cherubim or a seraphim, no. I want to fall into the hands to borrow Paul's words of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He's the one that will look at our lives. The one who loved us like no one else has ever loved us and who gave his life for us. And on that day we will stand in his presence and he will tell us what was good and what was wrong. he will make the evaluation it will be tested in that day now there are two possible results there's the positive and the negative it's always nice to begin with the positive and you find that in the following verse if anyone's work which he has built on it the foundation endures he will receive a reward Now, the comforting thought springs right out, and I've already mentioned it, there is work that will endure.
Let's remember that our call to Christian service is not an impossible task. It's not something we can't do. We can do it in the power of God's Spirit, and if we do it in the right way, that work will endure. That's a very comforting thought. the strange thought that troubles me is that Paul says he shall receive reward now I would like to ask you tonight why do you serve God I've seen some of you here at the park you have been working some of you for eight weeks night and day and you've made this conference a success and you've seen eight weeks come right through what is the motivating force behind your service.
Those of you who are here as elders and leaders, men and women, perhaps from churches in the north, what has made you down through the years work and weep and prepare your messages and do pastoral work visiting the sick? What has been the inspiration, the drive in your life? Let me tell you a story. embarrassed to tell you my wife is here tonight but every morning almost since we were married I wake up in the morning and my wife comes into the bedroom with a hot steaming cup of Dominican coffee there's no coffee like it in the world she brings me that every morning even here at the park in our room we wake up in the morning and she brings me the coffee to Ben if you were to ask her grace why did you do that do you think she's going to say to you well Jim gives me a few dollars Saturday afternoon that's the reward surely we are not serving God for the reward would that not be a very shallow type of
service I think of Paul's words I take them a little out of context when he says in second Corinthians five the love of christ constrains us that's why we serve him we've come to know the one who loved us in such a way that his love is beyond explanation we've been captivated by that love our service is a response to god's love if it's not like that it will soon become an obligation we will do it because we have to do it but if we do it out of love it doesn't matter how hard it is there'll be that spontaneity that buoyancy that joy we are returning love to the one who loved us but having established the motive for our service we cannot ignore the words of Paul for Paul says those whose work endures they shall receive reward first of all God is no man's debtor and all that is done for God will
be fully and abundantly rewarded I wonder about the rewards isn't it interesting that in this chapter Paul doesn't say a word about the rewards that's not the subject You can tell that Paul is not thinking about the reward. In your country today, if you have cable television, you don't have to go to your stores to shop. You can put on a channel of television. And when the channel comes on, they'll be showing you something. It could be a book. It could be a dress or a suit or a piece of jewelry. And they hold it up like that and they show it to you. And you sit there and you see this and you look at it.
and they speak so well of it and all of a sudden you've got that inner urge I really need that and you pick up the phone and you phone them and you give them your credit card number in two weeks it comes in the mail and you open the box and you look at this and you think what in all the world did I buy this for I don't really need this you know why you bought it because you saw it was like this in front of you don't believe for a moment that the Lord Jesus so to speak, is dangling gifts in front of us and saying, if you serve me, I will give you this. That's not the reason why we serve him. But when we serve him, there will be a reward. There may be a little indication in chapter four of First Corinthians about the reward, just a little different subject, but I think in principle it is very similar.
Chapter four of First Corinthians and verse five. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts and then. Each one's praise will come from God. That's unbelievable. We met here Sunday morning in a beautiful communion service, and men stood up, and with words they spoke well of God.
They praised God. They thanked Him for sending His Son, the Lord Jesus, who died for our sins. Men and women, we joined our voices. And we sang songs of praise to God. And the songs speak well of God. We are praising God for the good things He has done for us in the Lord Jesus. Can you imagine that moment when you stand before God and you receive your praise from God? I speak reverently tonight that God will say to you, that was very well done.
That was great. What you did at such and such a time, that is the word of praise that comes from God to you. You may say, well, could that really happen? Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus. He told so many beautiful stories. He told the story about the man who had servants and he went away and left them talents and he came back. And then they sat down with each one, and he took out the accounts to see how they had done. And one man came, and he had done very well. His talent had brought ten talents, and he shared it all with the Lord. And the Lord said to him, his master said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful in a few things. Now I'm going to put you over a lot of things. in another story similar you have the same well done good and faithful servant now you've been faithful in a little I'm going to put you over five cities and another one I'm going to put you over two cities now think about the phrases and analyze it and try and find out in your in your mind where is the real reward that you're going to be an administrator over five cities or over two cities I think the real reward is to stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus and to hear him say well done good and faithful servant the other part you ought all to speak Spanish is what we call la nepa that's the little bit that's added on to have administration and so on but to have his word of approval is surely the greatest reward we could ever imagine I don't want to be sentimental tonight but if you did ask grace on the side she probably
would tell you that she brings the coffee to me because I tell her every day that I love her well the Lord Jesus he has loved us we return that love in our service and the day will come when he will say openly, in that beautiful way, I love you. That was beautiful, well done, good and faithful servant. Now the negative part, we'd rather not talk about it, but it's there. We have to notice it tonight in First Corinthians chapter three and verse fifteen. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss.
but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire difficult verse to think about those who belong to God who will suffer loss but you know we cannot avoid the subject it's right there and the words are very clear when the work is burned up suffer loss let me take you back to my friend in Hamaul Norte three years have gone by since he built that little house of the bark that comes off of the upper part of the royal palm trees that bark now is so dry it's like tinder my friend is a widower his wife died some years ago doesn't have any children lives by himself and he comes home from his little farm where he works when he comes home at night he starts the little fire just outside of the door of his home and there he you see the kitchen is outside not inside and there he puts his plantings on and they boil them then he sits down and he eats them he's worked hard so he sits on a little chair under a palm tree for a little while before he goes to bed
in the cool of the evening and then finally around nine o'clock he knows it's time to get his rest tomorrow will be a full day of work and as he stands up to go into his home he looks at the fire and it's almost dead just a few little burning things but it's pretty well out and so he leaves it there's not a breeze anywhere he goes into his home his home represents his whole life in that home he has an old family Bible and in the Bible there is a picture of his parents that's the only picture he has of his parents it's staying because of the years but there it is Then in another part, he has a letter that his wife, before they were married, wrote to him a beautiful love letter.
He's kept it all the years, right in the Bible. Then he had a good friend. And the friend died about three years ago. He loved that friend. And when the people die in the Dominican Republic, they publish a little card with the picture. And he put that in the Bible. He misses his friend. It's there. All of his background. the things he could gather that remind him of the past, he's put them in his Bible, and he has it locked in an old suitcase, it's right under the bed. And there's no bank in Hamal Norte, so he's had to put his savings under the mattress. He's got an envelope and he keeps it in there.
He's up around five hundred pesos now. and then things are so bad in the Dominican Republic that when he comes in from the field he brings his tools with him and he puts them in the corner you can't trust anybody now if you leave them out there they'll be gone in the morning so he brings them in he puts them in the corner his whole life is in that little house he lies down and goes to sleep he sounds asleep when all of a sudden it happens so often on the northern coast up comes a strong breeze and in a moment the fire that he thought was out is blazing again and with the breeze it's right against that little shack and in a moment it's up in flames he wakes up there are two things he can do he can look for the suitcase with the Bible and try and get the money and gather up his tools and if he does that he'll die or he can run out through the flames and when he gets out to the yard he can turn around almost naked and look back and in a moment his whole life is gone.
He suffered loss. Now you have one life, I have one life, just because we're now nearing senior citizens or some of you are in that category already, that simply means that the years that remain are very precious years. Times that we can use for God and for His cause. We will either use our life for God and we will save it, or we use it for ourselves and then we lose it. The president of our country, his name is Joaquin Balaguer.
He's in his eighties. He's technically blind. Many think he's one of the best presidents we've had in recent years. He's a little man, and he wrote a book about two years ago, and within five months there were six editions of the book published. It's a big book, and they were all sold. He wrote about the times of the dictatorship, what had happened in the Dominican Republic, and everybody wanted to read that book. He said a lot of interesting things, some things I agreed with, some I did not agree with. But one thing he said, I wanted to open my mouth, I'm a very conservative person, but I wanted to say out loud, Amen.
Because right there in the book he said, how great it would be if we could go back and relive our lives again. That would be great. Some of us have made mistakes. Some of us have done things the wrong way. If we could live again, we would do it in a different and better way. But the president of my country, and I who read his book, and you who listen to me tonight, we know we cannot do that. We have one life in which we are called to serve God. And unless we serve him in accordance with his character, we waste our lives.
and we will suffer loss. But note, it is the work that is lost. It is not the work. My friend lost his life in the sense of his home, his possessions, and so on, but he did not lose himself. He ran through the flames and he was saved. And Paul adds that the worker will be saved so as through or by fire. But then you come to a very solemn verse, verse sixteen. And Paul says in verse sixteen, do you not know, now the phrase is simply this, don't you know what you are?
Now Paul wouldn't ask a question like that, if he didn't think for a moment that there were Christians in Corinth who didn't know what they were. So he says, don't you know what you are? Now I know he adds other details, but that's the basic question. You belong to a local church, perhaps this local church, maybe one in Pennsylvania or in Canada. And the question comes to all of us tonight, do we really know what we are collectively? Now Paul adds in the verse the details and he says, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you I'm going to suggest to you tonight that you use your imagination and we all belong to the church in Corinth and in this audience of around a hundred or so there are only twenty people who are Jews the rest we all come from Corinth some of us came from Asia some came from Italy some
of us were born in Greece but we all live in Corinth were Corinthians now those who are Jews the twenty there's only about seven or eight of you who were rich enough and had a passion strong enough to set out on the long journey to Jerusalem you made your plans with a lot of anticipation and you saved your money and you collected food and you made sure you belonged to a good group of pilgrims and you set out one day for Jerusalem it was a long difficult trip and finally when you drew near you came up the slopes of Mount Olive and as you got up to the top you looked over and for the first time in your life you saw Jerusalem and when you saw Jerusalem The most outstanding thing was the temple, and you just stood there in awe.
You'd heard about it, but you'd never seen it. Not only the size of the temple, and the great patio around about it, and the walls, but you're an Orthodox Jew, and you really believe that God dwells in that temple. And you went down the slopes of the Mount of Olives, and up across the creek and up the other side you walked into Jerusalem and you went straight for the temple and you stood there in that gray plaza you saw the bronze altar and you got in line so you could see beyond it and you saw the curtain and you knew that behind that curtain there was the table of showbread the altar of incense and a few things and then you knew there's a more beautiful curtain the second one And behind the second one, that's where God dwells.
And your legs trembled for a few moments. You had never been so close to where the Almighty God lived. And you bowed in worship. Now the rest of you, you're from Corinth. You never went to Jerusalem. You all had your temples right in Corinth. There were all kinds of temples in Corinth. And in every temple, there was a special place where the deity dwelt. And you would go to your temple. And you would go and remember, he's in behind that curtain. That's where the deity lives. Now Paul is saying to the church at Corinth, don't think about Jerusalem.
Stephen had already said, God does not dwell in temples made of hands. And he's saying to the Corinthians, you know what went on in your temples. Don't think about it twice. The Almighty Transcendent God, He dwells in the local church. Don't you know that you are the temple of the living God? And by His Spirit, He dwells in you. In our English language, there are weaknesses. You read that verse and you come to the word you. then you'll think about first Corinthians six where Paul says your temple your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you might take this verse in the same way that Paul is writing about the individual and that God by his spirit indwells the individual if you think that way and I speak respectfully you are wrong in the Greek language and in any Latin based language like Spanish that you is plural It refers to the local church.
And Paul is saying to the church in court, Don't you know that you are the dwelling place of God? As a matter of fact, the word temple, and there are two words, temple, in the Greek language, one takes in the whole building, the smaller buildings, the great plaza, and all the walls, that's the temple. But there's another word, and that's the word that has to do with the holiest of holies. and that's the word that Paul uses. Don't you know that this is where God resides in the local church? I don't think the Corinthians really understood that. Let's go back to Corinth and think about it.
I live in Corinth and I have a friend down the street. We've known each other for a long time. I was converted when Paul came to Corinth and I've been a member of the church since the beginning. And I've talked to my friend But my friend, he hasn't been too impressed, but things are going very difficult in his life. And so I say to him one day, you know, you really ought to come to church. Well, he said, maybe I'll think about it. So one Sunday he goes to church on Sunday morning and he comes in and he sits right in the back bench. He's never been in church before. He sits at the back bench. and he looks around at these people who've come in and some are saying hello to each other and they pick up their hymn books and so on and he sits there and then the chairman gets up and they sing a hymn and so on and then all of a sudden up gets a man to give a message and the first thing he says is I belong to Paul and I'm following Paul and right in the audience a man stands up over there and says I belong to Apollos And there's a man away at the back, he says, you're both wrong.
I'm following Peter down in Jerusalem. And my friend back there has never heard anything like this. It's so much like the world he left outside. Some people say, I go to this temple, and others, I go to that temple, and the others, no, no, I go to the temple down the road, and my friend back there is looking at the church, and he says, this is not really an alternative. this is just the same as the world I live in and he gets up and walks out well I'm quite embarrassed but our friendship continues and about a year later I say to my friend you know your life's not getting any better you really ought to come back to church again because we're not a bad people and we may make mistakes but you come on back someday and he says well I'll think about it again and one day he comes back he sits in the third bench he's been once before he sits down and he notices that when people come to church they bow their heads so he bows he doesn't know how to pray and then he lifts up his eyes and he's looking around and right down there he sees a man everybody in Corinth knows that man that's the man that ran off with the wife of his father and he's living with that woman
openly can't believe it he's seen all kinds of things in the pagan world but to come into the Christian church and find a man who's robbed his father of his wife. He stands right up and he goes out, decides, never coming back again to the Christian church. Why? Because it's not an alternative. Just exactly the same as the world. But I prevail on him. I'm very persistent. He comes back one more time, about five years later. He comes into the church. Things are a little bit quieter that day. And when the message starts, the man says, I'm going to speak today on the resurrection. and he begins, I do not believe that the dead rise again.
And a man stands up, you're wrong, because Paul said that the dead rise and there's confusion in the church. My friend leaves and he never comes back again because he has not found in the church an alternative to the world outside. And God dwells in the church. If we understand that, then these things would never happen there would be joy and there would be reverence because we understand we as a congregation we form the dwelling place of God those words certainly can be applied to the Lord Jesus when he said where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst the church at Corinth had forgotten The last verse is verse seventeen, and it reads, If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.
You may say to me tonight, can the temple of God really be defiled? In Spanish, it's not defiled, it's destroyed. Can the temple of God be destroyed? Well, yes, it can, when you remember that in this chapter, the temple of God is the local church. We can destroy the local church by the way we live. We can destroy the local church by the things we do. We can destroy the local church by our public ministry. It is not in accordance with the Word of God. The local church can be destroyed. And if the local church is destroyed, then the temple of God is destroyed.
But I tremble tonight with the words that Paul writes, If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. I suggest to you today that in our world, even in our church circles, there is a very low concept of the local church. We all need to revive in our minds the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. that the local church is God's dwelling place. And when we understand that, we will live and act and behave ourselves and teach and preach in a way that is worthy of God.
Please take your hymn book and we'll sing a few verses of hymn number twelve as we conclude our service tonight. Hymn number twelve. When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys transported with the view i'm lost in wonder love and praise unnumbered comforts to my soul my tender care bestowed thy tender care bestowed before my infant heart conceived from whom those comforts flowed we're going to stand and sing the last three verses of hymn number twelve Please stand.
Verse three. Ten thousand thousand precious gifts, my daily Glory shall be the cheerful heart to take those comfort joys. Through every period of my life, my goodness I'll His splendor and in his son's world are glorious, we renew.
Through all eternity to thee, the joyful and now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth Glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the God of peace be with us all through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.